Worth Your Salt?

How is your salt content? You are probably wondering, why in the world is Andrew asking about how much salt I eat. I am actually not asking about that at all.
Jesus used salt as a metaphor to describe his followers during the
sermon on the Mount. “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt loses its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet” (Matthew 5:13)
One function of salt is to keep food from going bad or corrupting. This is a similar responsibility Christians have in the world today. It is our job to do our part to keep the world from corruption by telling others about Christ. In his commentary on Matthew, James Burton Coffman notes this about salt; “a little more salt (true followers of God) would have preserved Sodom and Gomorrah from utter destruction (Genesis 18:32).”
So now that we have looked at the metaphor of salt we must examine the remainder of the passage. I don’t know about you, but I find this passage to be a little bit frightening. Imagine, our Lord and Savior having the opinion of us of being “no longer good for anything...” When it comes to Christian who is no longer faithful to Him, that is what Jesus says.
It is worth realizing that in
order for salt to be useful, it must come in contact with that which it can benefit. For instance, sitting on a dining room table is not nearly as effective as salt used in mashed potatoes. It finds its worth when it is used! The same is true for Christians. We must keep ourselves busy doing the Master’s work. A Christian who is not working for the Lord and doing their very best to bring others to Him is losing his or her “taste.”
We must take serious consideration to what Jesus taught about salt during the sermon on the mount. I pray that we will each keep ourselves busy in the Father’s vineyard and keep a honest watch on our salt content!